Kidney failure is a condition that causes a decrease in kidney function. Kidney failure, which may develop due to different reasons, may cause patients to become dependent on dialysis. A near-permanent treatment for kidney failure patients can be achieved with kidney transplantation.
What is Kidney Failure?
Kidneys; They are organs located in the back region of the waist, one each to the right and left of the spine. The main function of the kidneys in the body is to clean the blood from harmful substances. A significant part of the blood pumped from the heart comes to the kidneys and is filtered here. During filtration, toxic substances such as urea in the blood are filtered through the kidney. Harmful substances are sent to the bladder (urinary bladder) as urine dissolved in water. With the urine output of the person, harmful substances are thrown out of the body.
Kidney failure is a picture that occurs when the kidney loses its blood cleansing function for various reasons. Kidney failure can develop suddenly or as an acute problem, or it can occur as a chronic problem that develops over years. Conditions that may cause kidney failure; It can take place in a very wide range from toxic substance exposure to excessive fluid loss, from kidney injury to various medical disorders. In kidney failure, it is of great importance to eliminate the condition that caused the failure in order to restore the function of the organs.
Kidney failure is also known as kidney decay among the people. Depending on the accumulation of harmful substances such as urea in the body, various symptoms occur in people with decayed kidneys. Kidney decay is very rich in symptoms. Although organ failure is related to the kidney, the disease symptoms affect different organs and can cause problems in different parts of the body. Symptoms of kidney failure:
- Reduction in urine output,
- Fluid retention in hands, feet and legs, formation of edema,
- Dyspnea,
- Nausea,
- Fatigue, weakness,
- Weakness,
- Irregular heart rhythm,
- Chest pain,
- Seizures,
- Coma.
With the deterioration of the function of the kidneys over the years, a picture called chronic kidney failure occurs. The main causes of chronic kidney failure are; diabetes (diabetes) and high blood pressure (hypertension). In addition, a similar clinical picture may occur in some inflammatory kidney diseases called chronic glomerulonephritis.
No complaints and symptoms may not occur in patients with chronic kidney disease for years. Occasionally, findings specific to the underlying disease may be encountered. In order to detect hypertension that often accompanies chronic kidney disease, it is very important for everyone in the community to have their blood pressure checked and periodically undergo health screening.
What are the Types of Kidney Failure?
Kidney failure, acute kidney failure or chronic renal failure. The sudden loss of function of the kidneys is called acute renal failure. Acute renal failure; It occurs with the decrease of kidney functions in a short period of days, weeks, and as a result, the accumulation of blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and other uremic toxins in the body.
The decrease in the amount of urine in acute renal failure is called oliguria (less than 400 ml of urine per day). . The amount of urine decreased varies from person to person. Acute renal failure usually develops in hospitalized patients and may be due to many reasons.
Diseases involving small kidney arteries such as thrombosis, embolism, vasculitis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, thrombocytopenic thrombotic purpura, disseminated intravascular coagulation may cause acute renal failure.
br>Acute renal failure may also develop due to traumatic causes. Many reasons such as being dehydrated for a long time and diarrhea, loss of fluid due to vomiting, sudden and severe blood loss, staying under a dent for a long time, severe burns, frequent throat infections in childhood, and inability to urinate for a long time as a result of prostate enlargement can also cause acute kidney failure. .
What are the Symptoms of Acute Kidney Failure?
Acute renal failure may present with symptoms such as decreased urine output, edema due to fluid accumulation in the feet and knees, fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, chest pain, shortness of breath, mental or mental changes, and coma.
What is the Frequency of Chronic Kidney Disease?
According to the results of the CREDIT study conducted by the Turkish Society of Nephrology, 15.7% of adults in Turkey have chronic kidney disease at various stages. This rate; This means that there are nearly 7.5 million chronic kidney patients in our country, that is, one out of every 6-7 people has kidney disease.
Chronic kidney diseases are mostly insidious; In many patients, both diagnosis and treatment are delayed. Chronic kidney disease can be diagnosed in the early stages with simple tests such as regular measurement of blood pressure and urinalysis. With the diagnosis in the early stages, the course of the disease towards advanced stages can be slowed down with both general measures specific to chronic kidney disease and treatment approaches for underlying or accompanying diseases.
What are the Symptoms of Chronic Kidney Failure?
As a result of the progression of chronic kidney failure over the years and the gradual decrease in kidney functions, some complaints and findings occur. Symptoms such as weakness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, itching and drowsiness can be seen due to the kidneys' inability to remove harmful substances that need to be excreted from the body and the accumulation of these substances in the blood. As a result of this; There may be swelling of the eyelids, feet and legs. This may be accompanied by high blood pressure. Fluid can build up in the lungs, causing shortness of breath. In addition, due to the inability to excrete potassium in the body; Fatigue, paralysis and cardiac arrest may occur. Anemia; weakness, fatigue, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, palpitation v e may cause dyspnea. As a result, a picture develops with the overworking of the parathyroid glands, which are located behind the thyroid gland in the neck and regulate the calcium-phosphorus balance. This is called secondary hyperparathyroidism. Depending on all these; Deterioration in bone formation, decreased resistance of bones and easy fractures may be encountered.
What are the Causes of Kidney Failure?
Kidney failure can occur due to different mechanisms that cause damage to the kidney.
The decrease in blood flow to the kidneys leads to the development of organ damage. Conditions that may cause a decrease in blood flow to the kidney:
- Loss of blood or fluid from the body,
- Medicines to regulate blood pressure,
- Heart attack and similar heart diseases,
- Infection,
- Liver failure,
- Severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis),
- /li>
- Serious burns,
- Can be counted as severe dehydration (dehydration).
- Cloom formation in the blood vessels near the kidney,
- Intravascular cholesterol plaque that causes a decrease in blood flow to the kidney,
- The filtering of the kidney Inflammation in the glomeruli, glomerulonephritis,
- Hemolytic uremic syndrome in which red blood cells are destroyed incorrectly,
- Infection,
- Causes glomerulonephritis Autoimmune diseases such as lupus,
- Chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics, dye-based substances used for imaging techniques,
- Scleroderma causing damage to the skin and connective tissue,
- Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, which is a blood disease,
- Toxic substances such as alcohol, heavy metals, drugs,
- Causes destruction in muscle tissue conditions,
- Uncontrolled diabetes,
- Tumor lysis syndrome, which causes the sudden destruction of a large number of tumor cells, can be given.
- Bladder cancer,
- Blood clot in the urinary tract,
- Cervical cancer,
- Colon cancer,
- Prostate enlargement or prostate cancer,
- Kidney stones,
- Injury to the nerve that controls the bladder can be listed as
There are various factors that increase the risk of kidney failure. People with this risk factor are more likely to develop failure. Conditions that pose a risk in terms of insufficiency:
- Having a serious health problem that requires hospitalization in the intensive care unit,
- Advanced age,
- Blood vessels in the arms and legs congestion (peripheral artery disease),
- Diabetes,
- Pressure,
- Heart failure,
- Kidney disease,
- Liver problems.
What are the Stages of Chronic Kidney Failure?
Chronic kidney disease The most basic tests that should be done to diagnose the insufficiency are; blood tests (urea, creatinine, etc.), urine tests and ultrasound imaging of the kidneys. There may be no abnormality in blood tests in patients with early-stage renal disease. While there may be abnormal conditions such as protein leakage and bleeding in urine tests, abnormal results begin to appear in blood tests in the following periods.
Ultrasound of the kidney can provide information both in the diagnosis of kidney failure (kidneys can be detected to be smaller than normal) and the causative disease (such as familial kidney diseases or congenital structural diseases). blood test is required. First, the blood creatinine level is determined. Then, the filtration rate of the kidneys is calculated by means of some formulas and the stage of kidney failure is determined.
Chronic kidney disease is divided into 5 stages according to the filtration functions of the kidneys. Increasing disease stage means the kidney is working less.
Stage 1: There is a condition that causes damage to the kidney. filtering function of the kidney
Read: 0
